Top 3 Learnings from our San Francisco Course

1. Improving Customer Service is a common recommendation for many platforms in the sharing economy. After listening to all four presentations, I noticed that most if not all groups made recommendations regarding customer service. Many platforms bury the direct contact information within layers of FAQ and help pages (Airbnb), while others offer a direct customer service phone number but the response time is slow and the representative isn’t that helpful (HomeAway). It’s important for all platforms design a straightforward, simple flow to their customer service centers on both the website and the mobile app, as well prepare to scale for their growing customer base. Afterall, there is nothing more frustrating than having expectations for an on-demand service set by the company, and then having trouble using the service when you are ready to give it a try. 
   
2. Excess Capacity. I took away a lot from our meeting with GWU alumnus, Noah Karesh, at Feastly. Although I knew that opening and maintaining a successful restaurant was difficult, I had no idea how small of a profit margin (Noah stated about 2-6%) restaurants have. It was the identification of this inefficiency that got Noah to start the Blind Dog Cafe, a pop-up cafe located within an established bar in Washington DC. The Blind Dog Cafe was able to operate out of an existing space that wasn’t being used except in the evenings. This same thinking, which was identified in Peers Inc. as ‘excess capacity’, ultimately led Noah to create Feastly. Since starting this course, I constantly look to identify where and in what systems within my personal, profession, social, and educational lives there is excess capacity and how I can make more efficient use of it.

   

   Blind Dog Cafe operated in an established bar during 7am-4pm when the space wasn't being used.

3. In the Sharing Economy, fixing something over here might ‘blow something else up’ over there. This was a concept introduced to our class by ‘True Mike’ of Uber. As a project manager, he would work to solve an issue in one area of the platform and that would often ‘blow something up’ or create another problem in another area of platform. This concept made me think about Airbnb’s creation of the Instant Book feature as a way to counter various forms of discrimination by hosts. With Instant Book, guests who have over 10 reviews from a host and a high average rating can instantly book any property without prior approval from the hosts. However, now many hosts, particularly single women, are concerned and upset about losing the ability to screen potentially undesirable guests. This cycle is a big challenge for all of the sharing economy industries and I believe it will continue to happen despite of the best  preemptive measures.

Roundtable Discussion with Chip Conley

GW at the Airbnb Office.

I’ve become very familiar with Chip Conley within the last year as he has attended and been a speaker at several top conferences in the meetings and event industry. Therefore, I was very excited to meet and talk with him during our class visit to the Airbnb office. Chip is a hospitality guru as he owned his own boutique hotel chain, so I appreciated his insight regarding the ineffective feedback system used by hotels. Currently, hotels don’t really have a feedback loop. The way the system works now is after checking out, the guest is sent an email survey from the hotel requesting feedback. In the small chance that the guest even completes the survey, that information is at best discussed by hotel management at a monthly meeting. Chip shared that Airbnb, on the other hand, has a feedback system in which the guest is asked to complete a review of the experience within 14 days (a recent reduction from the previous request of within 30 days). At the same time, the host is also asked to complete a review on the guest. Neither review is shown to the opposite party and the guest’s review is not posted on the property listing until both parties write a review. As an Airbnb guest, I thought this review system was easy and creative but I had no idea that it was also effective. Chip reported that 75% of guests and hosts completed reviews under the currently used feedback system.  

The Airbnb office embraced the aesthetic of an open layout.

Chip Conley

Another take-away from our time with Chip Conley was his continued support in employee wellness and feedback. Chip has published several books conveying the importance of self-actualization and work/life wellness. During our meeting, he boasted about how Airbnb gives its employees $500 in Airbnb credits each year, with the option to carry over any unused credit into the next year. I remember thinking how awesome and smart that is for the senior management to offer, as it promotes employee wellness, implements the platform’s motto of traveling like a local, and allows the company to collect internal feedback. Overall, after meeting with Chip Conley, I was not disappointed and look forward to following Airbnb’s growth because, as Chip said, if comparing the company’s growth to a baseball game, “Airbnb is only in the third inning”.

Lodging Experience with HomeAway

Our HomeAway property in the Castro Neighborhood

The beautiful view from the patio.

On the second night of our San Francisco experience, the lodging group stayed at a one bedroom, one bathroom property in the Castro neighborhood. During the search or exploration stage of our customer journey with HomeAway we were frustrated. It was very difficult to find a property to rent for one night only. The majority of two bedroom properties within San Francisco area had two night minimums and there was no way to filter those properties out of the search results. Furthermore, we found that many of the HomeAway property listings we were interested in, contained out of date calendars that showed the properties as available even though they weren’t. Finally, we found the pricing of the HomeAway units to be a bit deceiving. For example, in the first photo below, the two bedroom listed in the search results, states the price is $275 per night, however once we clicked the ‘request to book button’, the price increases to $496 per night due to hidden fees and service charges (as shown in the second photo below). Overall, the search stage of our HomeAway customer experience was a low point in the journey and allowed us to recognize several key insights regarding improvements to the HomeAway search criteria.

Initial Price of Property shows $275/night

After clicking "Request to Book" the price increased to $496/night for the same property.

Once we were able to find a reserve an available property, for one night only, within our price range, our customer journey only improved. The high point of our HomeAway emotional journey was during the arrival stage. Romanus, the property owner, was out of town during our stay but was still able to provide exceptional hospitality. He allowed us to store our luggage early in the morning, so that we did not have to take them with us to the Airbnb and Uber office visits. He also left us a personalized welcome note that reiterated key information (see photo C). Throughout, our stay he checked in via text message and also provided us with a guest book (photo D) filled with recommendations for places to eat, things to do, and simple answers to common FAQs. Finally, after we checked out, he thanked us for staying at his property and invited us to return anytime. Although, Romanus was out of town for our stay, his exceptional level of hospitality elevated our HomeAway customer experience, which we recognized as a key insight in our analysis of the company.

Welcome Note from our host, Romanus

Guest Book provided by our host, Romanus